WGS 240 EXAM 1 QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
women and gender studies - Answers - - "An interdisciplinary academic field devoted
to topics concerning women, gender, and feminism."
• Focus on how gender intersects with race, ethnicity, social class, age, ability, religion,
and sexuality
• Gender as "central aspect of human existence."
Kimberle Crenshaw - Answers - Professor of Law at UCLA and Columbia Law School
- coined intersectionality in 1989 article, "demarlginalizing the intersection of race and
sex: a black feminist critique of anti-discrimination doctrine, feminist theory, and
antiracist politics
Intersectionality - Answers - - "a metaphor for understanding the ways that multiple
forms of inequality or disadvantage sometimes compound themselves"
- and they create obstacles that often are not understood within conventional ways of
thinking about anti-racism or feminism or whatever social justice advocacy structures
we have. "
Patricia Hill Collins - Answers - A distinguished Professor of Sociology at the University
of Maryland
- Charles Phelps Taft Emeritus Professor of Sociology within the Department of African
American Studies at the University of Cincinnati.
- Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of
Empowerment (1990)
- "Matrix of domination": Interlocking systems of domination that "reinforce, compound,
and compensate for each other just as easily as they conflict" (Clark 1994:27).
combated river collective statement - Answers - "We believe that sexual politics under
patriarchy is as pervasive in Black women's lives as are the politics of class and race.
We also often find it difficult to separate race from class from sex oppression because in
our lives they are most often experienced simultaneously. We know that there is such a
thing as racial-sexual oppression which is neither solely racial nor solely sexual, e.g.,
the history of rape of Black women by white men as a weapon of political repression."
androcentrism - Answers - - Confusing "maleness with humanity;" women as "others"
• Centering men
• Marginalizing women as "outsiders" (p. 1)
Patriarchy - Answers - a system where men and masculine bodies dominate because
power and authority are in the hands of adult men
WGS Origin Story - Answers - • WGS created in 1970s; in response to almost 150
years of feminist activism
, • 1970: first women's studies department at San Diego State University
• 1977: National Women's Studies Association
• Questioning women's exclusion from and oppression in society led to questioning
women's exclusion from academic areas of study
Why? Who benefits?
What new knowledge is created when we shift the frame?
the person is political - Answers - - Commitment to personal change
- Commitment to societal transformation
- The two are linked: not only about individual
feelings and choices but people working together to end oppression
WGS Disciplinary Evolution - Answers - • Intersectionality
• "Critiques of the women's movement and women's studies centered on their lack of
inclusivity around issues of race, class, sexual identity or orientation, and other
differences" (5).
• From "Women's Studies" to "Women's and Gender Studies"
• Shift from a "stable and fixed idea of 'woman'" to "more inclusive focus on gender" (5)
key legal changes - Answers - - Equal Pay Act of 1963
- Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ("forbade workplace discrimination")
-Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 1965 ("to enforce antidiscrimination
laws")
- 1978 and 1979 rulings that "prohibited discrimination against pregnant women and
provided women workers the right to damages for sex discrimination."
- Family Medical Leave Act of 1993 "provided 12 weeks of unpaid leave for workers to
care for children or ill relatives."
- More examples on p. 7-8
a transnational black feminist framework Kia M Q Hall - Answers - Four Principles of
Transnational Black Feminism in Context of Black Lives Matter
1) Intersectionality
2) Scholar-Activism
3) Solidarity Building
4) Attention to Borders/Boundaries
what is feminism - Answers - - " A personal perspective as well as a political theory
and social movement that has worked as a central force in advocating women's rights
and making room for other liberatory possibilities"(12)
1) "Concerns equality and justice"
2) "Inclusive and affirming of
women across their differences"
"Simply put, feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and
oppression." (bell hooks)
feminisms waves - Answers - 1st Wave: 1848-1920
women and gender studies - Answers - - "An interdisciplinary academic field devoted
to topics concerning women, gender, and feminism."
• Focus on how gender intersects with race, ethnicity, social class, age, ability, religion,
and sexuality
• Gender as "central aspect of human existence."
Kimberle Crenshaw - Answers - Professor of Law at UCLA and Columbia Law School
- coined intersectionality in 1989 article, "demarlginalizing the intersection of race and
sex: a black feminist critique of anti-discrimination doctrine, feminist theory, and
antiracist politics
Intersectionality - Answers - - "a metaphor for understanding the ways that multiple
forms of inequality or disadvantage sometimes compound themselves"
- and they create obstacles that often are not understood within conventional ways of
thinking about anti-racism or feminism or whatever social justice advocacy structures
we have. "
Patricia Hill Collins - Answers - A distinguished Professor of Sociology at the University
of Maryland
- Charles Phelps Taft Emeritus Professor of Sociology within the Department of African
American Studies at the University of Cincinnati.
- Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of
Empowerment (1990)
- "Matrix of domination": Interlocking systems of domination that "reinforce, compound,
and compensate for each other just as easily as they conflict" (Clark 1994:27).
combated river collective statement - Answers - "We believe that sexual politics under
patriarchy is as pervasive in Black women's lives as are the politics of class and race.
We also often find it difficult to separate race from class from sex oppression because in
our lives they are most often experienced simultaneously. We know that there is such a
thing as racial-sexual oppression which is neither solely racial nor solely sexual, e.g.,
the history of rape of Black women by white men as a weapon of political repression."
androcentrism - Answers - - Confusing "maleness with humanity;" women as "others"
• Centering men
• Marginalizing women as "outsiders" (p. 1)
Patriarchy - Answers - a system where men and masculine bodies dominate because
power and authority are in the hands of adult men
WGS Origin Story - Answers - • WGS created in 1970s; in response to almost 150
years of feminist activism
, • 1970: first women's studies department at San Diego State University
• 1977: National Women's Studies Association
• Questioning women's exclusion from and oppression in society led to questioning
women's exclusion from academic areas of study
Why? Who benefits?
What new knowledge is created when we shift the frame?
the person is political - Answers - - Commitment to personal change
- Commitment to societal transformation
- The two are linked: not only about individual
feelings and choices but people working together to end oppression
WGS Disciplinary Evolution - Answers - • Intersectionality
• "Critiques of the women's movement and women's studies centered on their lack of
inclusivity around issues of race, class, sexual identity or orientation, and other
differences" (5).
• From "Women's Studies" to "Women's and Gender Studies"
• Shift from a "stable and fixed idea of 'woman'" to "more inclusive focus on gender" (5)
key legal changes - Answers - - Equal Pay Act of 1963
- Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ("forbade workplace discrimination")
-Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 1965 ("to enforce antidiscrimination
laws")
- 1978 and 1979 rulings that "prohibited discrimination against pregnant women and
provided women workers the right to damages for sex discrimination."
- Family Medical Leave Act of 1993 "provided 12 weeks of unpaid leave for workers to
care for children or ill relatives."
- More examples on p. 7-8
a transnational black feminist framework Kia M Q Hall - Answers - Four Principles of
Transnational Black Feminism in Context of Black Lives Matter
1) Intersectionality
2) Scholar-Activism
3) Solidarity Building
4) Attention to Borders/Boundaries
what is feminism - Answers - - " A personal perspective as well as a political theory
and social movement that has worked as a central force in advocating women's rights
and making room for other liberatory possibilities"(12)
1) "Concerns equality and justice"
2) "Inclusive and affirming of
women across their differences"
"Simply put, feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and
oppression." (bell hooks)
feminisms waves - Answers - 1st Wave: 1848-1920
